As the Climate & Environmental Crisis accelerates, unprecedented heatwaves are becoming more frequent across the Globe and are increasingly frequent even in the UK. High temperatures can be fatal for many elderly people, infants, disabled people but also for workers exposed to heat.

The lack of Health & Safety regulations in the UK means that there are laws on minimum workplace temperature but not on maximum workplace temperatures. In some countries, heatwaves have led to the death of workers either in the outdoors or in extremely hot workplaces. How do we prevent this from becoming the norm in the UK? The warming climate and heatwaves are Trade Union issues. The TUC has started to develop resources on the issue via the Cool It campaign, but is that enough? We know that the deadly heatwaves are going to keep happening, so we need a plan to make sure people are protected now and in the years to come.

Can the Trade Union movement build alliances with the Climate Justice Movement to devise strategies of resistance, bring about regulations on maximum workplace temperature, ensure workplaces are properly insulated and the safety of workers and their communities protected?

Cool it now! Join Heat Strike, the Hazards Campaign and Trade unionists to start planning and organising ahead of International Workers Memorial Day 2024 which feature Climate Change & Workers Health as its key theme (28th April). We need to be ready for a Summer of Resistance in the face of the Climate Crisis and extreme temperatures.

Speakers:

• Ian Hodson, President of the Bakers, Allied and Food Workers Union

• Nuala Lam, Heat Strike

• Janet Newsham, Hazards Campaign

• Clara Paillard, Unite the Union & Tipping Point UK